Public forum at UIS examines prosecution complex and the wrongfully
convicted

March 14, 2005

SPRINGFIELD - A public forum on “The Prosecution Complex and the
Wrongfully Convicted” will be held at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, in
University Hall room 2008, on campus at the University of Illinois at
Springfield. The forum is free and open to the public and is held in
conjunction with the UIS course “Conviction of the Innocent.”

The program will feature a panel discussion with Thomas Frisbie, John
Hanlon, and Bill Clutter. Frisbie is a Chicago Sun-Times reporter and
co-author of Victims of Justice: The True Story of Two Innocent Men
Condemned to Die and a Prosecution Out of Control, about the Jeanine
Nicarico murder case and the wrongful prosecution of Rolando Cruz and
Alexandro Hernandez. Hanlon is an attorney for the Illinois Office of State
Appellate Defender’s Capital Litigation Project and has been a participant
in the appeals process in this and many other innocence cases. Clutter, a
private investigator and director of investigations for the Downstate
Illinois Innocence Project, has also worked on appeals in many innocence
cases, including the Nicarico case.

The Downstate Illinois Innocence Project is housed within the Institute
for Legal and Policy Studies at UIS. Under its auspices, students in Legal
Studies and other degree programs provide research and investigative
assistance to individuals who have been arrested, tried, found guilty, and
imprisoned for crimes they most likely did not commit.

Conviction of the Innocent is taught by Lawrence Golden, professor
emeritus of Political Studies and Legal Studies at UIS.

For more information, contact Golden at 206-7885.

The University of Illinois at Springfield,
one of three U of I campuses, is a small, public liberal arts university
that
offers
42 degree programs – 21
bachelor’s, 20 master’s, and the Doctorate of Public Administration.
UIS has a special mission in public affairs and service and is known for
extraordinary internships, a wireless campus, extensive online offerings,
and a commitment to teaching.